Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Google’s Colonization and Bomb Threats - Digits - WSJ

A timely Google reality check

The company also lacks “emotional intelligence,” he [the New Yorker’s Ken Auletta] added.

For example, Mr. Brin asked Mr. Auletta why he didn’t publish his book online for free, saying it would reach a wider audience that way. Mr. Auletta asked him if he’d ask a teacher to work for nothing, then asked who would pay for the expenses involved in reporting, editing or marketing the book.

“He quickly changed the subject,” Mr. Auletta said. It wasn’t a surprise that Mr. Brin might not know the intricacies of the publishing business, but his response gave Mr. Auletta some insight into the “instinctual attitude that Google brought to the question of copyright,” he said.

That topic, as well as privacy issues and its size, are three “atomic bombs that could blow up in Google’s face,” he said. “They’re not as sensitive to those three atomic bombs as they should be.”